Norma Bartol: A great book about the 'most trusted man in America'

Updated 7:59 pm, Thursday, August 16, 2012

A biography of the "most trusted man in America," or as William S. Paley states, "the stalwart kingpin of CBS news ... Walter Cronkite, who has earned for himself, and in turn for CBS that which we have wanted from the very start of our News Division; the highest degree of credibility in the world of journalism.... Walter has been so characterized -- if not immortalized with the oft heard line: If Walter says it, it must be so."

Millions turned to Cronkite every evening on television to see the news of the day. He was the anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 until his retirement in 1981. To be sure, Cronkite's career began long before television. Douglass Brinkley, the author of "Cronkite," writes of his career as a print reporter for the United Press, during the Depression when he began what was to be an amazing life in the media. World War II started him out with his reporting with Allied troops from North Africa, D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge.

In 1950, Edward R. Murrow brought him to CBS where he covered presidential elections, the space program, Vietnam and the famous televised broadcast of the Olympic Games. He also told us of intense moments such as the Kennedy assassination, Apollo II and 13, Watergate, the Vietnam War and the Iran hostage crisis.

On April 16, 1962, he anchored the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite for the first time. As Ben Bradlee, the Washington Post editor, recalled, "But Cronkite had a kind of paternal quality that made him different from other anchors and that is what set him apart. He was a great-white-father type -- not quite that because that connotes doddering, which he never was -- but he was the dean. He was the big cheese."

Often called the anchorman of Camelot, his show was expanded to a half-hour. It took off in a big way due to his interview with President John F. Kennedy at his summer home in Hyannis Port, where for the first time he used "that's the way it is" as a sign off. Then he was on hand for the Apollo II lunar landing, the most watched TV event at that time.

The war between CBS and President Richard M. Nixon reached a high with Vice President Spiro T. Agnew's "blistering tirade" on the media. Nixon was said to enjoy the scene, as he was always at odds with the press -- "This will tear the scab off those bastards."

Walter also got on the ecology bandwagon with "Can the world be saved?" Cronkite was known for the marvelous assignment he always produced on election night. A memorable evening took place upon President Jimmy Carter's election, also due to the "million dollar baby" Barbara Walters, who made the money earned by the anchorman look rather measly. CBS upped Cronkite to a similar reward, and he became a "member" of the Carter White House, much to the media's resentment.

After a summer of sailing aboard his double-ended "Wyntje," he returned to his desk, talking of Carter's signing of the Panama Canal treaties, and the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, which became "Cronkite Diplomacy."

Then the Ronald Reagan presidency loomed and the famous interview with Ford, who stated "no way" to a vice presidency. This caused Barbara Walters to "bully her way into the CBS broadcast booth where Cronkite and Ford were still chatting."

On Nov. 4 Cronkite broadcast his last election night, which Reagan won in a landslide, and on March 6, 1981, he anchored his last Evening News. Many felt it was the end of an era.

It is a great book about the most trusted man in America, but also a history of those times.

About the Olympics: I felt that the equestrian events were not given enough time, and from the evidence of the many in the stands, it is well liked. Furthermore, since I could not find the schedule of events, I ended up watching volleyball.

The opening of the games was done in a typical British way, just magnificent. The end was somewhat confusing, but I do thank the English, they do things first class.

Norma Bartol, a former Greenwich Time reporter and columnist, lives in backcountry Greenwich. Her column appears on alternating Fridays. Her email address is normamrfi@gmail.com.